Talk:Hypnotize/@comment-3575890-20140630153041
I've raved enough about my non-platonic OUAT OTPs, but I've never really discussed in length my platonic ships, which honestly mean just as much to me as any, so here it goes. All major spoilers beyond season one will be prefaced with a warning. This is by far my favorite platonic ship on the whole show just after Emma and Henry. While Regina didn't always know the first thing about showing her love the right way, it was never a question of if she loved Henry. There is nothing she would not do to protect him or assure his happiness even if it isn't in accord with her own self-interest. From the moment she held his infant self in her arms, she knew he was the solution to her loneliness, but what she did not count on was that he would awaken a motherly love inside of her more powerful than that of her love for vengeance that would eventually cancel out every last ounce of hurt, rage, and hatred that's ever festered in her heart. That she would not only grow to love him more than herself, but base her whole world around him. Henry is Regina's heart and humanity. He is the reason for why she is the woman she is today. He saved her from a path of eternal loneliness and self-destruction. He is all she has, but he is also all she has ever needed and will ever need to be whole. Without him, she would still be the Evil Queen with nothing but hate in her heart. *SPOILER*'Instead, she now has the ability to produce light magic that rivals that of the Savior herself's magic because of her earth shattering love for this boy. What I love about Emma and Henry is that Henry is all Emma has ever needed without her ever knowing it until she met him. Although it had pained her to give him up initially, she had wholeheartedly believed she could go on without him, and she did - for ten straight years. However, nothing could fill the gaping empty void that ached in her chest - until he came back into her life. Much like with Regina, Henry was an unexpected, albeit pleasant surprise. Neither women expected their worlds to come to revolve around him, but it happened. Like with Regina, Henry is Emma's everything. He goes from being a burden that she itches to rid herself of to the single most important person in her life that she - a complete self-preservationist- would slay a dragon for; would die for before ever letting go of again. And what comes of that is some beautiful character progression for Emma. Motherhood matures, strengthens, and humanizes her, chipping away all of her heavy armour and changing her entire outlook on love and life. There's something to be said for that Emma rarely lets people in. When she does, she makes them work really hard for it (Exhibit A, B, and C: Snow, Charming, and Hook) first; but Henry, aside from one brief interval of her pushing him away, she had let down her walls for within merely days of knowing him. Oh man, this ship tugs at my heart strings so much. There are so many intricacies and complexities that complicate this relationship, but makes it all the more beautiful. Poor Snow is overwrought with guilt over missing out on so much of Emma's life. It positively eats away at her. So from the moment Emma was returned to her, we've seen Snow desperately try to compensate for the lost time, but Emma's 28-year-long grudge over being abandoned, even if she understands that Snow and Charming gave her up with the best intentions, hasn't made that easy, which only urges Snow to try harder and just..ugh the degree of effort Snow has repeatedly put in to reconnect with her daughter is absolutely heartbreaking. When they were transported to the Enchanted Forest, Snow really stepped up her motherly role and they shared a beautiful moment in Emma's old nursery, but soon after it all just became yet another painful reminder of the time Snow has lost with her daughter. I don't think Snow will ever be over it. She'll be spending the rest of her life trying to make up for the lost time. But I digress. This push-pull charade goes on for two whole seasons until it finally comes to a boil when '*SPOILER* Emma thinks she's lost Snow forever causing her to realize how much her mother means to her and that epiphany of sorts then manifests into the single most beautiful moment between Snow and Emma as Emma flings herself into Snow's arms and breaks down as though the clock has turned back to make her once again the little girl Snow was robbed of the experience of raising. Although Emma has not spent as much time with her father as she has her mother, she's a chip off the old block of him. While there are similarities between her and her mother, she is her father's daughter through and through. She embodies his most prevalent qualities such as his impulsiveness, fierce protectiveness, dry wit, and bravery. This is why I yearn for more one-on-one scenes between them. They are one in the same and the show runners must have a firm understanding of that as well because they are constantly visually paralleling them. (Emma and Charming both fighting Maleficent in the same scene but in separate spaces in time is just one major example) They love with such ferocity that they don't always think clearly when it comes to their loved ones and have a tendency to jump feet first into dangerous predicaments without first weighing the consequences (as Snow would do). I love how Emma's earliest memory is of her father fighting with his life on the line to protect her, and how that trait clearly carried over into her development. It's adorable how Charming's protective papa bear instincts over her totally mirror that of her fierce protectiveness over Henry. This is easily the messiest, but most indepth relationship on the show. There is so much history between these two and whether they will admit it or not, a genuine connection that's existed since as far back as Snow's early childhood. With all that they've done to each other it's hard to believe there was once anything there other than bitter resentment, but in place of that there was once friendship, trust, understanding, and true sisterly love and it can't all be gone. It just can't. While hatred and resentfulness has long since tainted that kinship, I firmly believe that these women still care for each other deep down - especially Snow of Regina, whom never gave up hope that the kindly woman that saved her life so many years ago was still inside her somewhere deep down, and she was right. *SPOILER* Now Regina aspires to protect the very people, Snow included, she once wished and intended to destroy. This is yet another one that never fails to make me tear up. Rumple's love for his son and the guilt that eats away at him every day for hurting him just tugs at my heart strings something fierce. When you think about the great lengths that Rumple went to to be reunited with his son that set into motion every single thing that ever happened on the show, that's a testimony of earth shattering love if I've ever seen it. It's mind boggling to think that the sole reason so many lives were affected, so many people were ripped from their home lands and transported to a whole other world, was all because one man loved his son. As they say, True Love is the greatest force in the entire universe, and the existence of Storybrooke is a token of that. *SPOILER* It's heartbreaking how this relationship proved to be tragic in the end, but I'm just so happy they reconciled so that Rumple's elaborate actions weren't all for naught. Just going on this GIF alone honestly, how precious is their relationship? I love how Henry has known about Charming being his grandfather since the start - certainly long before Charming had any substantial interaction with him at all, let alone grandfatherly feelings - and still looked upon him as family. One of the the strongest testaments of Henry's love for his grandfather traces as far back as the very beginning, when an amnesiac Charming escaped from the hospital and Henry ventured out into the woods to look for him. What particularly strikes me as endearingly, besides Henry putting his grandfather's safety before his own, is how it's exactly what Charming would have done in the same situation, which brings me to another point - while I may argue that Henry takes after Snow through and through, he definitely has some of his grandfather's iconic qualities as well. His impulsiveness, bravery, assertiveness, and martyr-complex are just a few that come to mind, and these qualities especially come to light in his interactions with Charming. Normally, Henry is a mini-Snow, but when around Charming, a whole new side to him surfaces. The part of Henry that takes after his grandfather yearns to learn how to sword fight so he can sufficiently protect his loved ones, which then extensionally shines a big bright spotlight on the many similarities between him and his mother as well as Emma is the spitting image of Charming. Unfortunately, I could not find a GIF of just Snow and Henry, but this one is close enough. This one is honestly such an underrated pairing, but one of the most important ever for a multitude of reasons. For one, like with Charming, Henry has known about Snow being his grandmother all along, but unlike with Charming, has had a relationship with her long in advance even if Snow merely only thought of him as her student. She took Henry under her wing and offered him comfort and moral support when he needed it most subconsciously performing her grandmotherly duties with him before she even knew who he was to her. It was as though she could sense he was her kin. Their shared blood is far from all that connects them, however, for they are also cut from the exact same cloth so much that I would even argue Henry is a mini (and male) version of Snow. Renowed for their kindness, compassion, optimism, and selflessness, they are kindred spirits made predominantly of light. I think quite possibly the best parallel to ever show similarities between any two characters is Snow eating the poisoned apple to save Charming versus Henry willfully eating it for the sake of the curse being broken, which illustrates the indisputable truth that Snow and Henry are the two most selfless characters on the show, as well as the most sanguine. No matter what happens, they never lose faith that a happy ending awaits at the end of the tunnel and they are always the voices of inspiration that uplift others. I love this friendship so much for how complicated it is, lol. On one hand, they're totally bros, but on the other, they also have this son-in-law/father-in-law type of relationship that really highlights the protective papa bear side of Charming, which I LOVE! See, while Hook may have Charming's blessing to be with Emma, Charming makes himself abundantly clear that he will not hesitate to put a mean hurt on Hook if Hook ever hurts his little girl. Before Once who would have even thought Snow White and Red Ridinghood coexisted on the same plane, let alone could be good friends? Now I don't know how their traditional fairytale counterparts would get on with each other, and I honestly don't care; but there's no doubt their OUAT incarnations are wonderfully compatible. It helps that their respective personalities play off each other so well, but what truly makes their friendship special in my book is their history grounded in Red saving Snow so many years back. The principle of that Red found Snow, a complete stranger who for all she knew could have planned to rob her and slit her throat in her sleep, shadily hiding out in her barn, and instead of being wary of her, vowed to protect her and welcomed her into her home just as Snow would have done for her or anyone else resonates with me so much in how I feel about this friendship. Both women have beautiful hearts that have been taken advantage of in the past that desire to protect and preserve and inspire the best in each other. Honestly, who doesn't ship this? Okay, actually, probably many people since it's so dysfunctional, but I personally find it impossible not to ship them in some capacity since 1) they are my two favorite characters, 2) they are strikingly alike so much that it's actually comical 3) they both love Henry to pieces and have teamed up on more than one occasion for his sake, and 4) they're both damn awesome mothers, even if they have very different approaches. I'm always torn between wanting them to be friends and remain enemies because on one hand, I love the idea of these two women bonding, but on the other, I really love their ongoing rivalry, so suffice to say, their current frenemies status is the perfect medium. Honorable mentions: Hook/Bae, Hook/Henry, Bae/Henry, Red/Belle, Tinkerbell/Regina, August/Gepetto